AudioZ: The Synthetic Dream Foundation

This is Catalyst and I'll be your operator this fine day. Let me be the first to welcome you to Planet AudioZ your newly outfitted base of operations. I'll be here a lot in this transitional period to help you get acclimated to the new interface, fill you in on some of our highlighted additions and revisions, answer any questions that you might have and help iron out those pesky bugs. Please make note of the fasten seat belt signs and keep your limbs in the vehicle at all times. Any injuries sustained while utilizing our site are not the responsibility of AudioZ. Also if you're working on a lower resolution then I highly recommend making use of Full Screen mode by pressing F11 in your browser. Watch AudioZ envelope you in it's neon glow and get lost in what we have to offer.

An important note for those having trouble logging in:
We now require that you use your e-mail address so if you're simply filling in your username you will not be granted entry. However if you use the e-mail address attached to that username then the gates will open for you. Those having further issues or simply don't know the e-mail address attached to their previous account please contact me and I will get it for you.

One of the first things that grabs your attention is our revamped and streamlined interface and the attention to detail in our completed sections and throughout the site. Run your mouse around the border of a post and it lights up to let you know that AudioZ magic is happening. Ahhh yeah. Navigation links are now on the left hand side and not the top, I think we can all agree that this is better and more convenient. Also where there is a plus next to the text that means there are subcategories that can be exposed by clicking as I'm sure many of you already figured out. Keep in mind that there are still many things that are not fully completed so please be patient while we add the finishing touches to this project. The decision was made to relaunch now rather than keep teasing you and so with the many changes it was a lot of work coordinating our efforts. However rest assured we will continue to improve upon what we already have and those pieces will snap into place soon enough. When will it be fully finished?...when we're dead...but don't worry we're working on that problem too. Really though you will see this already thriving community keep reaching epic level after epic level as we refine the formula.

Let's run through some of the features but keep in mind that not all of them are completed at this time. However they will be soon so I might as well let you know about them now.

Some noteworthy media related items:
1) We have our own internal image hosting framework so you can upload straight from your computer for profile pics or releases, it's no longer necessary to hunt in a rabid frenzy for online image links or to have to upload through a third party website. This service is called Thumbnailed for those of you that are interested.

2) Some new emoticons including the long awaited introduction of the gratitude icon, one that was missing for far too long. I tried to get some other ones too but we were limited by size and honestly that's something that can always be added later so it's not that big a deal. We did give you some new ones that you didn't have access to here before.

3) We were forced to roll out new tags in the last iteration of AudioZ and we make official use of them here. You can now communicate and hide info from anyone below a member and then another tag that only residents can see. I'm sure you'll find them as infinitely useful as I already have.

4) New tags for posting whether it is an AudioZ exclusive release, P2P or Scene release. Know at a glance what category a post is so you can find what matters to you. You will find the words written vertically right under the post name.

In addition let me hit on the new community oriented features:
1) New member hierarchy stretching all the way up to Admins and Moderators. You'll find new categories such as supplier so we can give credit where it is due. We also had to call in Cleaners...you know...in the event things get out of hand. No but really though these people will be helping keep things flowing smoothly for all of us by reuploading and dealing with dead posts.

2) You now have a score in the community which is something along the lines of charisma. This works in tandem with people liking/disliking your posts and comments and there is some stuff working on the back end too but that's for staff to worry about.

3) Social network integration for those times when a release is so so damn good you just have to share it with your mates.

4) Intelligent partially automated handling of reups utilizing the contributors in tandem with the residents or staff of our intrepid community. A more detailed description of how this works can be found in our Info section so I won't go into detail here.

5) We now support Gravatar for easy management of your social presence across the networks important to you. If you don't know this service then simply click the link above and watch the video.

6) Expanded Lounge section with site news, industry news and music sections. Beefing up this section was long overdue and we spend a lot of time here so now we can do it in style.

7) Quickly and easily see the status, date registered, posts, comments and member rating at the top of each member's post.

8) See if a member is online by looking at their name in the comments section or their profile page for the color green.

Now let's highlight a suite of new features that I call My AudioZ being rolled out to the community. This suite will focus on little extras in an effort to make your time here more enjoyable because you truly deserve it. It's YOUR AudioZ so take control:

1) Revamped messaging system that will give you a better messaging experience. You now get to see the avatar of the person PMing you as well as a better layout for the text that is a pleasure to work with. You will also get a popup that you've received a new PM so you never miss another message. Everything is sleek and very cyberpunkish (is that a word ) if I may say so myself. You also have the ability to mark all as read and mark as unread too.

2) Bookmarks - Checking out the latest Kontakt library but have to go take care of some stuff, hit the star to add it to your bookmarks for later perusal at your convenience and it all happens in this new environment. No need for having to choose where to put it in your browser bookmark folders so it's quick and easy. Very convenient when working in full screen mode.

3) Comment subscriptions for those times when a thread is too juicy to miss. :tasty:

4) You now can see what posts you've made that are awaiting approval at the bottom of your profile for your convenience.

5) Ability to ignore members that are incessantly PMing you.

6) No need to contact us for a password change, now it can be done from your profile page.

7) Related threads to the one you're on, a very useful feature.

8) What's the weekly top news? Now you can answer that question with Top News visible at the top of the screen as soon as you open our page. Never miss another stellar release again

This is the continuation of something truly epic and we look forward to working with you in the future as our community soars to new heights. The crazy thing is that there are many features that I haven't even included in this guide that we will be addressing at a later date. The engine we're running on has been enhanced so much that we could literally sell it at this point. Once we get everything in complete working order this will be the platform that will sustain our needs into the future.

Just kidding...bring lots and lots of drugs. We're going to need them.